LED / COB for A 3 x 3 - help me choose please

Hello Team,

I have A 3 x 3 and want to switch from HPS to LED or COB. Been doing my homework, and have A few models I'm looking at. Maybe some of you can share some feedback, that would be great

My down selection:
Morsen COB 600w, or
Viparspectra 600w, or
Galaxyhydro 600w LED, or
Lightmetunnel 400w COB, or
Roleadro 400w COB, or
Apollo 400w LED

Basically less than 200 bucks for reliable and effective product. COB seems to outperform LED and 600w would be A better choice than 400w for A 3 x 3!

Any a thoughts, suggestions and advices?

Thanks

Meh, not really effective products to be honest.
First those are not true watts, you need to know what you're buying.

For a 3x3 get 300-400 real watts of cree or vero or citizen cob but it will cost more than 200$.
If you can stretch to 600-700$ you can get a proper cob light like Timber 4VS with vero cobs, probably best bang for buck cob light in the entry/mid range.
Anything less will be ok but not spectacular, so save some more. It's worth it.

Cheers

Koondense said:

Meh, not really effective products to be honest.
First those are not true watts, you need to know what you're buying.

For a 3x3 get 300-400 real watts of cree or vero or citizen cob but it will cost more than 200$.
If you can stretch to 600-700$ you can get a proper cob light like Timber 4VS with vero cobs, probably best bang for buck cob light in the entry/mid range.
Anything less will be ok but not spectacular, so save some more. It's worth it.

Cheers

Click to expand...

Hi Koondense, thx for honesty and sound advice. I'm not familiar with these citizen, cree, quantums, bridgelux and Vero. From my first readings, vero seems to be a nice choice but honestly all seems like DIY stuff. Are there any pre-built boards with no DIY or is it just assembling various lights in A chain/daisy like way?

What would you recommend for the cheapest safest & best option for A 3x3, with least DIY? Needs to be easily available in yurup!

Thanks mate

Least DIY? The most bang for your buck IMO is this http://timbergrowlights.com/model-3ts/

They ship worldwide. Contact them for details.

In EU there are import taxes for US products.
What's your budget?

These Timber look great but cost an arm per 100w. I'm just looking to replace my HPS and not into commercial growing with my tiny 3x3 tent. Looking at some guys which pull pretty good grows with Chinese stuff I feel the gap with top notch products like you are suggesting is very large in price. I was hoping to spend no more than 300 Bucks for a good 450-600w light. But I understand your point in terms of benefit per dollar spent on the long run compared to soso Chinese stuff. What would be the best entry level product, safe and doesn't cost my two army and legs for A few hundred watts? Timber looks like A formula 1

Do yourself a favor and build a 4 cob system with pc fan heatsinks and total output of 400w.
It can cost you between 350-400$, you'll learn a lot and will be very satisfied with the light.
Or a 300w setup for around 300$.
Forget old led tech and jump on the fastest train

Cheers

Ceramic halide smokes plain white led for growing
If your a grower you might have noticed that. At least the growers I know including myself feel so. No lie, put them through the ringer
Not so sure about the mixed led packages, might be some good ones out there.. Probably expensive

Get the ballast from China for roughly $80 for 315, $140 for 630. Buy the reflector from somewhere local that works best for your grow spot. Big beam.. Small beam.. Air cooled... Open. Cmh mogul adapter if you need it
Or source a complete package locally, whatever works for you
Opinions cool right

Just wanted to add, if you have your heart set on a cob light id probably go king brite on alibaba for parts or rapid led for a finished light. King brite was the original parts place when people first started looking to build their own. No idea what they have now as I haven't looked lately. Rapid has been around for a long time also

Lots of great feedback guys, Thanks. It's just that I wanted to go the easy route as I'm expecting my 4th kid for christmas, have loads of work and want to get started asap on my indoor plan. Looks like I need to extend my homework so keep it going on thoughts please

As positivity said, cmh lamps are a great option for your tent, probably best spectrum you can get for your plants. If it comes cheap and safe, then it is a far better solution compared to leds you wanted to buy.

Cheers

positivity said:

Ceramic halide smokes plain white led for growing
If your a grower you might have noticed that. At least the growers I know including myself feel so. No lie, put them through the ringer
Not so sure about the mixed led packages, might be some good ones out there.. Probably expensive

Get the ballast from China for roughly $80 for 315, $140 for 630. Buy the reflector from somewhere local that works best for your grow spot. Big beam.. Small beam.. Air cooled... Open. Cmh mogul adapter if you need it
Or source a complete package locally, whatever works for you
Opinions cool right

Click to expand...

would the Mogul adapter for A 315w CMH work on a 250w HPS socket and would the ballast for 250 HPS work for A 315 CMH ? In that case I would just need A CMH lamp + mogul

CMH for the money and the spectrum and for your grow area, can't be beat.

$228 US gets you ballast, philips 315 bulb, socket adapter, wing reflector

https://growershouse.com/ceramic-mh-315w-wing-reflector-package


edit: includes ratchet hangers as well


.

Tipunch said:

would the Mogul adapter for A 315w CMH work on a 250w HPS socket and would the ballast for 250 HPS work for A 315 CMH ? In that case I would just need A CMH lamp + mogul

Click to expand...

You would need a square wave ballast. Just search for 315w square wave, I wouldn't mess with a ballast made for a standard mh.
A wing reflector does me well in a odd area like a 2 x 4 rectangle. For a 3 x 3 you would be better off with a vertical bulb and square reflector.
If you need to match ambient temperature with just a fan a ac hood is better. If you can handle 5 degrees or so raise in temperature (depending on ventilation) an open reflector is better

Just some things that work for my situation.

You guys rock!

$200 budget for LED lightning on a 3'x3' flowering tent won't cut it, that's HPS, maybe CMH territory. What's the available height?

To get yields similar to a HPS/CMH, for a 400-600W LED rig, count with multiplying the budget by 3x, maybe 2x if you go the DIY route with COBs.

Rapidled is a good source, I have bought from them in the (distant) past to build my HML's.

DIY'ng is not that complex if you source a kit.

Why do you want to switch to LEDs?

There are various kits out there if you are trying to save money. I have a kit at GrowGreen a 200w and 400w kit ,as well does timber grow lights, chilled tech and others. There are Samsung LM561C oriented kits, cob kits, quantum board kits, etc. All do the same thing. The key is to find which ones work with the lowest amount of killiwatts for the maximum production in a 3x3 area.

I started out with cree cobs a few years ago. They are OK. I was looking into various light engines, I bought a Diamond Xl350 and it works great with 3w diodes, but expensive. Has nice spectrum. next I noticed ChilLed tech doing their Gen 1 engines at 50w each. Nice. I wanted a few to play with but he stopped producing Gen 1 and went to Gen 2 Samsung LM561C diodes.

I studied this new diode, Samsung LM561C, and it is a game changer. You can drive this diode at 200lm/w which is the highest luminosity available right now. This diode provides mid power at higher drive currents such as 100mA and up to 150mA. They come in various spectrum 2700K to 6500K. They are great, but in my opinion still have a drawback of a broad-based spectrum from 450nm - 700nm.

I designed my own boards with two spectrum 3000k and 5000k. That works OK, but I wanted better.

So I began looking at Horticulture only with a subscription to LEDSmagazine ->http://www.ledsmagazine.com/index.html
to keep up.

I discovered that Luxeon is leading the Horticulture pack with the SunPlus series the SunPLus 20 and SunPlus 35 series. I like the SunPlus 20 series,they have only Deep Red 650nm, Far Red 700nm, Royal Blue 460nm, Lime and white2700k-6500k.

I decided to use the Deep Red far, Royal Blue, and Everlight uva 385nm for a new direction, combining white light with Horticulture light for best plant response. So ia designed a 200w two channel 3000k/5000/ mother board, and two daughter boards, one has Royal Blue channel and Deep red channel. The other has Far red channel and UVA channel for a more complete spectrum for plant production.

There is a lot going on out there and homework would be good for the holidays.
peace

AvidLerner said:

There are various kits out there if you are trying to save money. I have a kit at GrowGreen a 200w and 400w kit ,as well does timber grow lights, chilled tech and others. There are Samsung LM561C oriented kits, cob kits, quantum board kits, etc. All do the same thing. The key is to find which ones work with the lowest amount of killiwatts for the maximum production in a 3x3 area.

I started out with cree cobs a few years ago. They are OK. I was looking into various light engines, I bought a Diamond Xl350 and it works great with 3w diodes, but expensive. Has nice spectrum. next I noticed ChilLed tech doing their Gen 1 engines at 50w each. Nice. I wanted a few to play with but he stopped producing Gen 1 and went to Gen 2 Samsung LM561C diodes.

I studied this new diode, Samsung LM561C, and it is a game changer. You can drive this diode at 200lm/w which is the highest luminosity available right now. This diode provides mid power at higher drive currents such as 100mA and up to 150mA. They come in various spectrum 2700K to 6500K. They are great, but in my opinion still have a drawback of a broad-based spectrum from 450nm - 700nm.

I designed my own boards with two spectrum 3000k and 5000k. That works OK, but I wanted better.

So I began looking at Horticulture only with a subscription to LEDSmagazine ->https://www.ledsmagazine.com/index.html
to keep up.

I discovered that Luxeon is leading the Horticulture pack with the SunPlus series the SunPLus 20 and SunPlus 35 series. I like the SunPlus 20 series,they have only Deep Red 650nm, Far Red 700nm, Royal Blue 460nm, Lime and white2700k-6500k.

I decided to use the Deep Red far, Royal Blue, and Everlight uva 385nm for a new direction, combining white light with Horticulture light for best plant response. So ia designed a 200w two channel 3000k/5000/ mother board, and two daughter boards, one has Royal Blue channel and Deep red channel. The other has Far red channel and UVA channel for a more complete spectrum for plant production.

There is a lot going on out there and homework would be good for the holidays.
peace

Click to expand...

Why is electricity use such a concern in a 3 x 3 area?

No offense avid, but I see you post stuff all the time of using such and such diode, where are some pictures of this stuff actually being used.

You can search my handle which I know you're familiar with, maybe not so much others, and find all these things you talk about actually being used grow after grow.

Do what you like, but a 3 x 3 is perfect for a CMH. Sunsystem LEC FTW.
Phlips ballast, bulb, and nice reflector

positivity said:

Why is electricity use such a concern in a 3 x 3 area?
No offense avid, but I see you post stuff all the time of using such and such diode, where are some pictures of this stuff actually being used.
You can search my handle which I know you're familiar with, maybe not so much others, and find all these things you talk about actually being used grow after grow.
Do what you like, but a 3 x 3 is perfect for a CMH. Sunsystem LEC FTW.
Phlips ballast, bulb, and nice reflector

Click to expand...

positivity.... i have a 4x3.5tent- last winter/into springtime i bought '3' vipar 300w led's- i thought they sucked, so i added an 8bulb/4ft fluor fixture... and toasted the plants- as them fluors put out some heat... now as its fall/going into winter, i started '4' plants- they are presently under the 8bulb/4ft fluor and doing ok... but in a week/two, i will go to flower and the fluor won't cut it (i gave the vipars away)-
so the question .. if i get the 315 cmh with the wing refector how will the heat be in my 4x3.5ft tent?? - presently with the fluor, and a fan blowing cool air into the tent, the temps hover in high 60's/low 70's, which is perfect.... with the open-wing type reflector i worry the temps will sky-rocket- and i guess u can buy an enclosed refector, but thats added $$$$, plus then u need an inline fan...etc...etc.. all adding up to more $$$ and more work to set up...

i was looking at these 1000W LED Grow Light, Dimgogo Triple Chips Full Spectrum Grow Lamp with UV&IR on amazon for 129bucks... they seem to have pretty good reviews, and the idea was using this in the center of the tent, with 2 other say 600w led's on each side...

have i confused u enough???

zachrockbadenof said:

positivity.... i have a 4x3.5tent- last winter/into springtime i bought '3' vipar 300w led's- i thought they sucked, so i added an 8bulb/4ft fluor fixture... and toasted the plants- as them fluors put out some heat... now as its fall/going into winter, i started '4' plants- they are presently under the 8bulb/4ft fluor and doing ok... but in a week/two, i will go to flower and the fluor won't cut it (i gave the vipars away)-
so the question .. if i get the 315 cmh with the wing refector how will the heat be in my 4x3.5ft tent?? - presently with the fluor, and a fan blowing cool air into the tent, the temps hover in high 60's/low 70's, which is perfect.... with the open-wing type reflector i worry the temps will sky-rocket- and i guess u can buy an enclosed refector, but thats added $$$$, plus then u need an inline fan...etc...etc.. all adding up to more $$$ and more work to set up...

i was looking at these 1000W LED Grow Light, Dimgogo Triple Chips Full Spectrum Grow Lamp with UV&IR on amazon for 129bucks... they seem to have pretty good reviews, and the idea was using this in the center of the tent, with 2 other say 600w led's on each side...

have i confused u enough???

Click to expand...

I just smoked a roach but lets give it a try.

So you don't extract air out of the room, and just blow a fan to mix the tent air with the rest of the air in the room. 3 vipars 300...I guess they consume half the watts? 450w total...plus 8 bulb 4' floro.....54w (assume HO), had to google that as I don't use floros myself. 432W of floros.

882w (Fixed..hate math) of lighting in a 4x3.5. Just about 63w sq/ft. Without you hooking up a kill-a-watt or something I can only guess the true power draw

Just looking at the power difference of 315w vs 882w I thinks its safe to assume the temps will be lower even without real extraction. Seems you could run 2 really

With a starting temp of low 70s you can get all the way to 85f and be okay. Everyone has their favorite temps though understandably

To tits out the spot, something like 2 ac phantom CMH vertical hoods would be an option. You can go glass, no glass, multiple hanging heights, bulb vertical maxing even spread. Add a dimmable ballast and you can change wattage depending on need

But yeah, I'd guess a 315w with a wing would work pretty good. You lose the punch through the canopy but you can get around that by giving the plants space and not bunching them up

edit..stoner missed the last LED part. I dunno man, all those are the same to me and I wouldn't expect different results than you've already had. If thats whats in the budget then make it happen. Read the reviews and try and find some honest grows. You can always supplement or even run the whole grow with off the shelf LED lightbulbs using sockets with multiple connections